1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to transducers and particularly to electromechanical transducers. More particularly this invention relates to devices capable of transducing an alternating current input into an oscillating mechanical output, or vice versa, or capable of producing a predetermined unidirectional mechanical movement in response to a DC input, or of producing a unidirectional electrical pulse in response to a predetermined mechanical movement.
2. The Prior Art
For many years the so called Wiedemann effect has been well known. The Wiedemann effect is the twist produced in a wire that exhibits magnetostriction when that wire is placed in a longitudinal magnetic field and a current flows through the wire. The converse or inverse of this has also been long recognized and is commonly called the Inverse Wiedemann Effect. In the Inverse Wiedemann Effect axial magnetization is produced by a magnetostrictive wire that carries current therethrough when the wire is twisted.
There have been a number of attempts to employ the Wiedemann and Inverse Wiedemann Effects in practical applications. Such attempts are discussed at length in an article by J. A. Granath entitled Instrumentation Applications of Inverse Wiedemann Effect which appeared in the Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 31, pp. 178S-180S (May 1961), and in a publication by the International Nickel Company, Inc. of New York, New York entitled Magnetostriction. At least two U.S. Patents disclose devices relying upon the Inverse Wiedemann Effect, namely U.S. Pat. No. 2,511,178 granted to H. C. Roters on June 13, 1950, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,083,353 granted to A. H. Bobeck on Mar. 26, 1963.